Page 4- The Michigan Daily --Tuesday, September 25, 1990 re £idijan BaiIy EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 U 4 NOAH FINKEL Editor in Chief DAVID SCHWARTZ Opinion Editor k~at~l. A~k ~co~1* ~ Vlefr(icwou -relr r 7: E IF v .4 cA," *r ,0 -M S~EwcvaISYg 40*KtA% lac. A.&4J, K!ftJ6 S44F'tMb r14r C M~uS stzJRi7y is AkxrE tIgPwwTAlhv17xaw o %,art,,jce4 G-JO( , rCA )C,, u tI AJ !u7T fRJLL wr M ay Wtj 8u AAI got'" rr OJT Of £6*,aE 1c~e IJ E! -4 0 7 Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. I-.- E r N Racist fliers At Yale and Michigan, ignorance still reigns "Now do you know why we call you niggers?" SO ASKED A GROUP CALLED YALE But abject racist aggression, such as Students for Racism in a letter sent to the harassment inherent in fliers like 10 Black students at Yale Law School, these, is only a part of the problem. after citing the reported sexual assault of a female classmate by two Black Ignorance is the bedfellow of men. racism; combined with lethargy, the Racism is still running rampant at effect is explosive. By remaining idle, universities across America, as evi- and refusing to combat the problem, denced by this event and a similar the community is as guilty as those episode that took place at the University who actively perpetrate racism. of Michigan Law School last week, in Lies, such as those involving ethnic which a number of Black students or racial superiority, cannot stand ex- received copies of a discriminatory posure to the harsh light of reason. flier. Such small ideas can be forced un- The fliers circulated on this campus demeath the rock whence they came, are an abominable attempt to portray but only if we recognize the problem the African National Congress as a and actively combat it. group dedicated to the enslavement of In the post-civil rights era, man white people. Those who distributed h gn past-c towrdgh s suey the fliers may intensify the existing ra- have grown apathetic toward the issues cial tensions at the University. of civil rghts and racism. Even on * Members of the University and Ann progressive college campuses like Yale Arbor communities should roundly and Michigan, people have begun to condemn the distribution of these fliers turn a deaf ear to problems which con- as another in a series of racial incidents tinue to fester in their communities. on campus. When any one group in the This growing racism can no longer community is under siege, the entire be ignored, and must no longer be tol- community suffers the consequences. erated. Sla s dSre tas ' th Wh o sC now4 s e ~K C I- l \. - Sr The above flier was distributed to several Black Law students at the University of Michigan. - -... .... t S 4 . fill f.' ..."~ i~-I- 'Vi~AV A~54ijOIL W4M.M, .. OR cooki A R.p Palestinians deserve criticism for To the Daily: I am truly fascinated by your expecta- tion that any American in his or her right mind, will endeavor to help the Palestini- ans to get what you naively, (or is it pur- posely) call academic freedom, when the Palestinians have joined our enemies Libya, Yemen and Iraq under the leadership of that great humanitarian, Saddam Hus- sein. When the Arab League voted to join the embargo against Iraq, following its brutal and barbarous takeover of Kuwait, it was that great leader of the Palestinians, Yassir Arafat, who could hardly wait to cast his vote against the embargo resolution. Arafat acted to favor the Butcher of Baghdad, who had been threatening the world, especially Israel, with the use of poison gas. And it is the Palestinians, led by the academic freedom seekers, who are hailing Arafat and Saddam Hussein for their brave defiance of the. rest of the world, including most of their fellow Arabs, and of course, the United States and Israel. Now to get down to the gist of your vehement editorial on the question of aca- demic freedom ("Palestinians are.denied academic feedom," 9/13/90). One would like to ask the fair-minded, objective, truth-seeking, unprejudiced emissaries of MSA about the academic freedom to be found in the other Near Eastern countries, even where there is no hostile populace ready to resist the authority of an occupying power. supporting Iraq ardent advocates of a separate Palestinian state? (Incidentally, the Jerusalem Post of Sept. 1, 1990, informs us that Bethlehem University in the West Bank is about to reopen.) Perhaps now the Daily will understand the refusal of the Israeli authorities to permit the establishment of a Palestinian state on the West Bank. The United States and its allies should otherwise have to be Arafat acted to favor the Butcher of Baghdad, who had been threatening the world, especially Israel, with the use of poison gas. s Do Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, or Jordan have anything like freedom, aca- demic or otherwise, e.g. press, TV, radio or even personal communications, or even for its own citizens? Are not the universities on the West Bank veritable hotbeds of indoctrination of anti-Israel propaganda? Have not many students of these universities become the leaders of the intifidah, and the most prepared to face an avowed enemy on a second front - a pro-Iraqi state near Egypt and the Suez canal, and next door to Israel. It is also interesting to note that back when Israel destroyed the construction site in Iraq for an atom installation, she was roundly condemned by the world. Now we can all be grateful to Israel for removing the menace of nuclear destruction from the armory of Saddam Hussein. Philip Resnikov* SNR is working to recruit more students of color To the Daily: In a Daily article regarding differences in minority enrollment among schools, you correctly report that the School of Natural Resources currently has the lowest minority enrollment on campus. However, what you didn't report is that the School of Natural Resources is a leader in a national effort to increase diversity in the environmental field, both in natural re- source schools and programs nationwide, and in environmental organizations and professions. Over the past few years the school has increased its efforts (despite lack of staffing and funding) to recruit students of color through its summer minority intern program, a new joint program with Wayne County Community College, and our Rouge River Environmental Education Program in the Detroit Public Schools. All these efforts are designed to in- crease knowledge about career opportuni- ties in the natural resource and environ- mental fields. Our efforts are beginning to be successful. Next fall the School of Natural Resources will enroll 10 more un- dergraduate students of color, both Black and Hispanic. While the numbers are not large, we see it as a step. I am also concerned about the salary is- sue raised by President Duderstadt. Salaries in the field of natural resources and the en- vironment are increasing, as are the em- ployment opportunities. At a recent conference I attended ip Washington D.C. (the National Minority. Environmental Career Conference), repre- sentatives from private industry, non- profit organizations, and government agencies at all levels were recruiting stu- dents of color for a wide range of profes- sional positions with competitive entry level salaries. Sandra Gregerman Director of Academic Programs, School of Natural Resources', Lessons to be learned from the death of Becky Bell THE GREEK SYSTEM ml" To the Daily: I'm writing this letter by the light of a slowly fading flame and I'm writing in the calm after a storm. The sorority members are chanting nearby, feeling female and fertile and fine. Me, I took up a rather different chant this evening, in the memory of a woman named Becky Bell. I call her a woman - they called her a girl, and so Becky died after an illegal abortion in a state of despair called Indiana. Becky turned 17 (not 18), and she died. And I turned 17 not too long ago and here I am shouting aloud and not feeling Becky Bell's death To the Daily: We have just returned from a candlelight vigil in honor of Becky Bell, a victim of the parental con- sent law restricting abortions to young or alone. And I think that I am sick of being told I am small. I am 17 and a sophomore and I am feeling guilty. I felt guilty for the anti-male sentiments that went blazing through my brain. And now I feel guilty in their absence. I dislike my hasty, stormy wish for a woman who could pass such a ridiculous law, a mother instead of a man. I wanted a female oppressor to hate, to stop the one-sidedness of my anger (excuse me, my candle has gone out). The law, in a way, seems like fiction to me, just too far-fetched to be true. But I know that if I were to exemplifies need for What happened to Becky Bell can never happen again. It was senseless. It was wrong. Becky was old enough to get pregnant. Biol-1 ogy made her old enough. But, the become pregnant tonight, both the act and the law would become very real. I'd be one of the lucky ones they'd say, as a second-year Honors student, having had Logic 101, they'd most certainly trust my good judgment. It's the very thought of having to ask permission that truly fright- ens me - whether the permission springs from a familiar, familial source, or from the wondrous well- spring of the government. This is me speaking, this is my person and my personal decision. This letter is also a bit too per- sonal, and I am sorry, but the thought of having to subject myself to such a law sparks feelings which are difficult to suppress. I dislike my lack of thought for the many women of Michigan and Minnesota who, like me, are angry. And I feel guilty for not think- ing of Becky and the many women who have felt or will feel alone. And yet the sorority women have stopped their songs, my candle has long since gone out, and I cannot help but think that there are some who should feel much more guilty than me. Nina VanderVoort LSA sophomore Chi Phi rush poster reflects on Greeks To the Daily: Once again Fraternity Rush is upon us. Walking through the Diag has become a hassle for me. The benches, light posts, and even the cement beneath my feet are plas- tered with fraternity rush fliers. Of course the paper waste is ter- rible, but that's not the ron for my letter. I am complaining about Chi Phi's ad. It states, "Rush Chi Phi or we'll shoot this dog." The cartoon depicts a man hold- ing a gun to a dog's head. I am be- liever in the First Amendment, but Don't like what Y'see2? Tell our readers what you think. Write to the ii,.a n aily at a woman's right to choose an abortionI to decide the direction of her life. Instead, the government imposed a decision and she is dead. Where is her right to life? We cannot believe that anyone Support sex education in schools. Support the provision of birth control to those who need and want it. Support open family dis- cussion without the interference of